The court would wait, the audience would hang breathless, the attorneys, standing up, would lean forward, while the witness tried to find words in which to formulate a reply.
Then in three words the story would be told. The jury would lean back and gasp. The judge would swing around in his pivot chair and assume an air of unconcern. The attorneys would busy themselves with papers and the audience would groan. Still Miss Gingles would sit there in the witness chair unperturbed.
Could an innocent young woman sustain the horror of such a climax?
The jury that rendered the verdict of "not guilty" was a representative one. They ranged from men high in the financial world to those of low estate. In the days that they sat listening to the terrible tale as unfolded by the little Irish lace-maker and the physicians they appeared to be held as though spellbound.
It was a dramatic trial, filled throughout with thrills and shudders.
Sensation followed sensation. At no time during the long trial, which cost the state of Illinois nearly $100,000, did the interest lapse.
It was for the jurors to decide the truth of this complication of alleged happenings and as to the guilt of the little foreigner, charged by her alleged persecutor with theft.
The important points on which Madame Barrett based her charges against Ella Gingles were:
That Ella Gingles signed a confession December 6, 1908, admitting she was a department store thief.
That she stole valuable lace from her and used the lace in the new dress.